01-03-2017, 07:55 AM
Good morning everyone,
Over the last 18 months or so I've been working on a portable HO switching layout designed to take to shows.
The layout started out initially as an Inglenook fed from a sector plate, with the addition of a kickback spur from one of the fork spurs.
Here is a trackplan of the layout in it's initial format - known then as West Allen Street:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxJ0XC...FFSbG9sVGM
The layout was built on a budget of £200, that was to include locomotives and rolling stock, but not the DCC controller or tools used to build the layout.
That said, the cost of the DCC locomotive could have equally gone to the cost of a DC controller and a DC locomotive, which makes the total cost still perfectly feasible.
All locos and stock were purchased second hand at train shows to keep the cost down.
The first incarnation of the layout was successfully built to the stated budget, including 2 DCC fitted locomotives (Athearn CF7 and Bachmann GP40) and 10 freight cars - all Athearn blue box.
It was exhibited at the Trent Valley North American Modellers exhibition in 2015 in this first incarnation.
Since then, the layout has been improved upon and expanded - the cheap ground cover (sand used to represent gravel) was dug up and the whole thing redone with DAS modelling clay painted to look like asphault and packed dirt.
This - plus expansion of the locomotive roster and freight car fleet - was completed ready for the layout's second exhibition at Mansfield Model Railway show 2016
After this, and the purchase of a small fleet of gondolas at Mansfield (they were a real bargain - £20 for 6 Blue Box gons!) I decided that the layout needed more operating potential, and wanted an industry to make use of the gon fleet.
Thus came the plans for the first expansion of the layout - Thawne.
Scrap yards are overdone, IMO, so I decided on a stone masons, with large blocks of stone brought into the layout in gondolas, unloaded into the factory, and stone products shipped out in gondolas, boxcars and bulkhead flats.
One of the main issues I had with the original layout format was loading cars onto the sector plate, due to the narrow gap between the backscene and the factory on the kickback spur which was used as a view blocker to hide the sector plate itself.
As such, the first requirement of the extension was better staging. This evolved in the form of a single spur (made from the old sector plate!) attached behind the backscene on the extension, with train disappearing through the backscene to reach it.
Naturally, the stonemasons would be fed by kickback spurs and sit in front of the hidden staging.
In addition to the single spur feeding the stonemasons, another curved spur was added to the front of the layout to act as a locomotive stabling point and caboose track. This track also proves useful when switching the masons.
Unfortunately during initial testing of the track layout, it became apparent that the curved spur was not long enough to fit my longest locomotive on it, so a small extension was added to the front of the layout to correct this.
The idea of the curved spur was to represent an older industrial branch that was no longer rail served, and has been abandoned.
Future plans for the layout include a new extension on the left end of the layout including a coal trestle and a heavy travelling crane to serve the Handy Co. metals factory. After that is finished I have an idea for a third extension moving from the locomotive stabling/caboose track on Thawne.
Below is a link to my Google Drive folder with a couple of hundred pictures of the layout through it's various incarnations. I would appreciate any feedback you could give me.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxJ0XCy-hiT6QjJ6MGRTY1YybWs?usp=sharing">https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing</a><!-- m -->
Over the last 18 months or so I've been working on a portable HO switching layout designed to take to shows.
The layout started out initially as an Inglenook fed from a sector plate, with the addition of a kickback spur from one of the fork spurs.
Here is a trackplan of the layout in it's initial format - known then as West Allen Street:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxJ0XC...FFSbG9sVGM
The layout was built on a budget of £200, that was to include locomotives and rolling stock, but not the DCC controller or tools used to build the layout.
That said, the cost of the DCC locomotive could have equally gone to the cost of a DC controller and a DC locomotive, which makes the total cost still perfectly feasible.
All locos and stock were purchased second hand at train shows to keep the cost down.
The first incarnation of the layout was successfully built to the stated budget, including 2 DCC fitted locomotives (Athearn CF7 and Bachmann GP40) and 10 freight cars - all Athearn blue box.
It was exhibited at the Trent Valley North American Modellers exhibition in 2015 in this first incarnation.
Since then, the layout has been improved upon and expanded - the cheap ground cover (sand used to represent gravel) was dug up and the whole thing redone with DAS modelling clay painted to look like asphault and packed dirt.
This - plus expansion of the locomotive roster and freight car fleet - was completed ready for the layout's second exhibition at Mansfield Model Railway show 2016
After this, and the purchase of a small fleet of gondolas at Mansfield (they were a real bargain - £20 for 6 Blue Box gons!) I decided that the layout needed more operating potential, and wanted an industry to make use of the gon fleet.
Thus came the plans for the first expansion of the layout - Thawne.
Scrap yards are overdone, IMO, so I decided on a stone masons, with large blocks of stone brought into the layout in gondolas, unloaded into the factory, and stone products shipped out in gondolas, boxcars and bulkhead flats.
One of the main issues I had with the original layout format was loading cars onto the sector plate, due to the narrow gap between the backscene and the factory on the kickback spur which was used as a view blocker to hide the sector plate itself.
As such, the first requirement of the extension was better staging. This evolved in the form of a single spur (made from the old sector plate!) attached behind the backscene on the extension, with train disappearing through the backscene to reach it.
Naturally, the stonemasons would be fed by kickback spurs and sit in front of the hidden staging.
In addition to the single spur feeding the stonemasons, another curved spur was added to the front of the layout to act as a locomotive stabling point and caboose track. This track also proves useful when switching the masons.
Unfortunately during initial testing of the track layout, it became apparent that the curved spur was not long enough to fit my longest locomotive on it, so a small extension was added to the front of the layout to correct this.
The idea of the curved spur was to represent an older industrial branch that was no longer rail served, and has been abandoned.
Future plans for the layout include a new extension on the left end of the layout including a coal trestle and a heavy travelling crane to serve the Handy Co. metals factory. After that is finished I have an idea for a third extension moving from the locomotive stabling/caboose track on Thawne.
Below is a link to my Google Drive folder with a couple of hundred pictures of the layout through it's various incarnations. I would appreciate any feedback you could give me.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxJ0XCy-hiT6QjJ6MGRTY1YybWs?usp=sharing">https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing</a><!-- m -->